Fulfilling Dreams
by BrownEyedGrl5993
Summary: Troy and Gabriella decide to adopt a child, but after spending a lot of time with the child that they now love and hope to adopt, they find out a scarring secret about her past that will either bring these three closer together or tear them farther apart.
1. We'll just know

**April 17, 2008**

As the ringing of the alarm clock ceased from the opposite side of the bed, Gabriella Montez-Bolton felt the bed shift underneath her. Their usual routine, of course, had started again: Troy would wake up to his alarm at 6 in the morning, whilst waking up Gabriella in the process, then he would shower, get dressed, and come back into their bedroom to kiss Gabriella on the forehead before he would leave again to head off to work until 5 o'clock that afternoon. However, this morning was different.

Troy woke up to his alarm, showered and dressed, but when he came back into the bedroom Gabriella was surprised to see Troy get down onto his knees right next to where she was sleeping on the bed and gently start to stroke her hair. "Gabriella," Troy spoke softly, "If you don't want me to go to work today I won't. I'll stay here with you."

Gabriella twisted her body around so that she was now facing Troy gazing into his cerulean blue eyes. Troy could clearly see the difference between her normal appearance and the state she was in now. Her normally chocolate brown eyes were now red and swollen having the shade of a dull brown color, and there were tear tracks all down her face.

"No, Troy, you have to go. This is the millionth time that this has happened. I'll be fine," Gabriella replied shakily.

Although seeing Gabriella in this much pain and hearing the quiver in her voice pained Troy, he knew she was right and he had leave her alone to go to work for the day. "Ok Brie, I'll go, but promise you'll call me if you need me and I'll be back in a heartbeat" Troy said while kissing her forehead once again.

As Troy slowly backed out of the room, all he could think of was how much pain Gabriella had been in over the past few months. Since they were married a year and a half ago, Troy and Gabriella had been trying for a baby, but around six months ago, the couple had found out that it was close to impossible for Gabriella to conceive a child so they had started giving Gabriella treatments to help her fulfill the wish that herself and Troy had been trying so hard for. However, six months had gone by since Gabriella had started the treatments and they still had no luck.

Troy could see how drained Gabriella was becoming from going into their bathroom every month and getting her hopes up to see the pregnancy test show a positive sign. Every month Gabriella would come slowly out of the bathroom with the test in her hand, and fall into Troy's arms with sobs racking her body. Every month Gabriella would cry that she wasn't a good enough wife because she couldn't give Troy what she knew they both wanted so badly. And every month Troy would hold Gabriella, stroking her hair and whispering in her ear trying to calm her until he could make her tears subside and convince her that they would try again in the month to come. However, last night Gabriella had been drastically different than she had ever been before. She was inconsolable.

As Gabriella came out of the bathroom, she collapsed into Troy's arms with sobs once again racking her body, but after two long hours had gone by, it seemed that Gabriella's cries were only getting increasing louder instead of subsiding. Troy had been forced to lie in bed with her in his arms, trying his hardest to get her to sleep. Troy thought it was around 4 in the morning when Gabriella had finally drifted off to sleep, still in tears. During the course of the night when Gabriella seemed to be finally drifting off to sleep, Troy couldn't help to think if they would soon have to give up on the treatments and resort to another method that both Troy and Gabriella hadn't yet discussed and weren't sure if they could handle. He just couldn't take seeing Gabriella go through this much emotional pain any longer.

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It was now around 4:30 in the afternoon, and all day Gabriella had been trying to busy herself with housework or returning phone calls so that she wouldn't have to face the internal battle that was going on inside of her head. She knew that as soon as Troy got home he would want to discuss what had happened last night, and she wasn't sure if she could handle that right now. All her life she had dreamt of growing up and having the perfect family. So far she basically had everything that she had dreamt of: the perfect guy, a big house in the suburbs, and all of her childhood friends living right down the road, but she was still missing one thing, a child.

As Gabriella leaned against the smooth granite counter of her kitchen cabinets staring out the window, she heard a door quietly open and close. Before Gabriella could turn around, she felt two strong arms encircle her waist and a head resting on her shoulder. She turned her head to the side and received a kiss on the cheek.

"You okay? You seemed really entranced with something out the window" Troy said while detaching himself from Gabriella and gulping down a drink of water that he retrieved from the fridge.

"Yea I'm fine, just thinking about something" Gabriella sighed while she started walking towards the table situated in the center of their stainless steel kitchen.

"Would it by any chance have anything to do with what happen last night?" Troy asked as he went to join Gabriella at the table. Although Gabriella had told him just seconds ago that she was fine, they both knew that she really was not, and Troy could see through this façade that Gabriella was putting up just by the look on her face.

"Maybe, I just…. I don't want to talk about it right now Troy" Gabriella said while fiddling with her hands that were delicately intertwined in her lap.

"Brie, you know we need to talk about this. I can't deal with seeing you like this every month. We made a deal that we would only keep doing these treatments if we both thought that you could handle them. I'm sorry Brie, I know this is hard for you, but we're going to have to look into adoption" Troy exclaimed with his heart breaking as he saw tears start leaking out of Gabriella's eyes as he said they had to stop the treatments.

"I know we have to" Gabriella said through her tears, "It's just so hard to accept the fact that I can't be the one that will give this to you." At this comment, Troy's head snapped up and he immediately grabbed one of Gabriella's hands, gently stroking his thumb across her smooth olive skin.

"Brie, you know I'll love our child just as much as if _we_ actually had her. Nothing's going to change that. They'll still be ours even if we haven't had them since they were first born" Troy gently said to Gabriella, whilst looking into her eyes.

"But how will we know which one to adopt! There are so many kids out there that want to be a part of a family so bad! How are we ever going to know which one is right for us?" Gabriella exclaimed while reaching across the table to grab a tissue to blow her nose into from all of the crying. Troy wiped Gabriella's tears away with the pad of his thumb.

"We'll just know Gabs, we'll just know"

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	2. How could we choose?

(DO NOT OWN ANYTHING)

**May 10, 2009 **

As the morning sun shown down brightly, the birds chirped loudly, and a lawnmower roared loudly from outside, the Boltons were just starting their day.

"Troy! I have NO idea what to wear. What do you wear to an interview with the person who could possibly give you a child for the rest of your life?!" Gabriella yelled whilst standing in her large walk-in closet in the bedroom. Both Troy and Gabriella each had their own large walk-in closet, separated by their bathroom, but it was very prevalent who's closet had more clothes stuffed in it and that would be Gabriella's.

Troy was currently changing in the bathroom which was connected to both of the closets and also to their bedroom. He couldn't understand, along with all other men, why it took a woman so much time to pick out one simple outfit when they had so many choices to choose from. "Brie! Why is it so difficult for you to settle on just ONE outfit?! We're going for an interview; not to meet the President! That skirt you tried on before was perfectly fine" Troy yelled back to Gabriella through the bathroom wall becoming increasingly agitated. He was currently buttoning up the light blue collared shirt that his wife had picked out for him; she said they brought out his eyes, which according to her "matched perfectly with his khaki Dockers."

"Ugh, Troy, you don't understand. We need to make enough of an impression so that they know we're genuinely excited and looking forward to being parents and meeting all of the kids, but not too much of an impression that they think we're sucking up to them. This outfit is crucial!" Gabriella exclaimed, growing more and more frustrated with her husband.

After a couple more minutes of holding different clothes up to herself in the mirror with clothes strewn all around her in heaps, she settled on a white eyelet ruffle dress which fell right above her knees, and kept her hair natural with her brown curls cascading over her shoulders and down her back. She matched the outfit with a black pair of flats from Steve Madden.

"Troy! Come on, the interviews in twenty-five minutes and it takes twenty minutes to get to the orphanage. We have to leave!" Gabriella yelled to Troy while grabbing her sunglasses to perch on her head and her gold and brown Coach purse that contained all the necessities she might need throughout the course of the day.

"Calm down Gabs. Everything's gonna be fine! Seriously Gabs how do you do that! That outfit wasn't even one of the ones that you showed me when you tried half of your closet on!" Troy laughed while walking into the garage attached to their house with two filled coffee cups in his hands.

"Ha ha, very funny. I know, I just want everything to be perfect. Did you remember the booster seat we borrowed from Sharpay and Zeke just in case they want us to spend the day with one of the kids?" Gabriella question nervously thinking either she or her husband were forgetting something. The orphanage that they were planning to adopt their child from had a policy that before adopting a child you had to take them out for a number of days and get to know them. They wanted to make sure that the children felt very comfortable with their new families before they actually went home with them.

"Yep, it's already set up and everything right there in the back," Troy grinned at his wife "But Brie, don't get your hopes up. We don't even know if they're going to let us meet any of the kids today let alone take one out with us for the day."

"Yea I know, I'm just so excited!" Gabriella exclaimed with a huge smile gracing her lips. They both had been waiting for this day to come for so long….

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As Troy and Gabriella's silver 2009 Honda CR-V turned onto the street of the orphanage, Gordon Road, Gabriella could barely sit still any longer because of the nervousness growing inside of her. Although the ride was only twenty-five minutes long, Troy felt like it was the longest he had ever experienced in his life with Gabriella constantly fiddling with something different every ten seconds out of nervousness. As Troy parked the car parallel alongside the road right in front of the orphanage, he gave Gabriella's hand a quick squeeze before getting out of the car and meeting Gabriella on the long stone path leading to the front doors of the orphanage.

As they started walking down the pathway hand in hand, Gabriella directed her attention towards the building in front of her. It was a dark brown brick color with green ivy climbing up the walls. It was recognizable that this building was not a house from its huge 323 nametag right alongside the front door indicating the address, and also by the recognizable age of the building.

As Troy and Gabriella reached the front door, Troy rang the doorbell and they could hear it echoing throughout the rest of the house inside. No longer then 3 seconds later the huge black door was swung open to reveal a think, black-haired, blue-eyed woman that looked to be in her thirties.

"O hello, you must be Troy and Gabriella Bolton. Come right in" greeted the woman kindly, gesturing with her hand for them to enter the building. "Now obviously you can see that it's relatively quiet as of right now, but that's because the wake-up time for the younger kids is around 9 o'clock, and since it's only 8 only the children above ten are eating in the kitchen right now. If everything goes well in the interview I can bring you out to meet the age group that you are particularly interested in adopting. O, I'm so sorry I didn't introduce myself earlier. I'm Mrs. Sanchez."

"You mean if we do get accepted as adoptive candidates we'll be able to meet the kids today?" Gabriella asked excitedly with a huge smile gracing her lips, looking up at Troy. He could clearly see the light and happiness in her eyes that had been missing the past couple of months.

"Yes, that would be our process, but, if you'd just follow me now into this room here" Mrs. Sanchez gestured once again with her hand. Troy and Gabriella quickly complied with her request and followed the woman into the small room hoping that this would be the conversation that would change their life forever. Granting them a child.

*********************************

After an hour and a half of being interviewed by Mrs. Sanchez, Troy and Gabriella finally exited the interview room glowing with happiness.

"Thank you so much Mrs. Sanchez! You have no idea how much this means to us!" Troy exclaimed with his arm around Gabriella's waist.

"Well it was the least I could do for a couple as sweet as you. You'll make wonderful parents to one of these little guys." Mrs. Sanchez exclaimed as she ruffled one of the little boy's hair as he ran by, chasing after one of his friends. "Now it's time for the most exciting part! Would you like to meet the children?"

"O, we'd absolutely love to. That's just the hard part though. How could we possibly choose between all of these kids? They're all so adorable" Gabriella said as she and Troy glanced around the large kitchen at all of the older children.

"Well if you knew an age you might be interested in adopting, me and my partner Mrs. Roberts could gather them all up in the gathering room for you to meet and talk to?" Mrs. Sanchez asked kindly, not wanting to push the couple too far, but also wanting to make this day as memorable for them as possible.

Gabriella looked up at Troy and nodded her head, which Troy understood as telling him to tell Mrs. Sanchez what they had discussed over the last couple of weeks. "Well, Gabriella and I have thought about it and we decided that we would love to adopt a younger child. Maybe around four or five years old?"

Mrs. Sanchez smile grew visibly upon hearing this and exclaimed, "O, I'm so glad. Those children are just adorable and exactly the right age to understand what exactly is going on, and they are _also_ at the age that they start to understand that they're missing something from their lives and that would be a Mommy and Daddy. So just give me one minute and I'll go get all of them for you. Right now, we have fifteen that are around that age."

Troy and Gabriella thanked Mrs. Sanchez and watched her jog up the stairs, obviously to go get the four and five year olds from upstairs. As they both waited patiently in the kitchen, they looked around at the children and saw that even though all of them looked as if they had a friend that they were talking to, there was something missing on all of their faces.

Troy and Gabriella were around their friends children all of the time: Sharpay and Zeke had twins, a boy named Alex and a girl named Olivia, Taylor and Chad had a little boy named Jacob, and Kelsi and Jason had a little girl named Miranda (Ryan was the only one of their friends that was not married yet, but they did not see him very much anyway because he was performing on Broadway in new York City). From spending so much time with their friend's children, they could easily tell what was missing from each of these children's faces and this was pure, true happiness.

Just as both were thinking this they were interrupted from their thoughts with the sound of numerous footsteps thundering down the front stairs. Gabriella and Troy both walked into the front room and saw a group of children running down the stairs, with Mrs. Sanchez following behind them.

"Well, Troy, Gabriella, meet our four and five year old children. I've come to know each and every one of them very well over the time that they've each been here because I work full-time at this orphanage meaning 24/7 around the clock hours. My partner, Mrs. Roberts is only here to heIp during the day. I sleep right down the hall from their room, right next to the infant's rooms because they are the ones that need me the most during the night. Now starting all the way on the left with the five year olds there is Cassie, Brandon, Tommy, Jessica, Luke, Claire, and Erin. And then starting with the left for the fours is Emma, Lily, Jake, Dylan, Isabella, Abigail, Jen, and……" Gabriella looked at all of the children again and counted all of them out on her fingers one by one. "Wait. Who's missing? O, where's Ava? Sarah! Where's Ava?" Mrs. Sanchez screamed up the stairs.

Seconds later a heavyset woman came running down the stairs gripping a little dirty blonde-haired, bright blue-eyed girl's hand who was trailing behind her with what looked like tears streaming down her face.

"Here, I found her sitting in the corner of their room crying again." Mrs. Roberts exclaimed looking very flustered.

"Yes, yes, it's fine. Come here Ava. Troy, Gabriella, this is Ava, and she's another four year-old" Mrs. Sanchez stated keeping Ava in front of her with her hands on Ava's shoulders. Ava was wearing a plain white t-shirt with denim jeans that looked like they had been cut from full-length jeans, and her hair dirty-blonde hair ran a little past her shoulders but looked like it hadn't been brushed recently at all. Ava looked up at Troy and Gabriella very quickly and gave them a smile, that even though it was small, Troy and Gabriella saw and smiled back. Troy immediately felt Gabriella squeeze his hand and Troy started to smile even brighter.

"Ok kids go play" Mrs. Sanchez directed towards the children and they all scurried off into the large gathering room where their toys were stored which Ava trailing behind all of the other children.

Troy and Gabriella spent the next four hours playing and talking to all of the children, but there was one little-girl that stuck out in both of their minds that they just could not stop thinking about.

* * *

Next chapter: Troy and Gabriella come back to the orphanage two days later to take the child that they have decided they want to adopt out for the day with them. I know it's really obvious who they're going to choose haha. I know that being approved for adoption take longer but for the sake of the length of the story, I am pretending it is like this


End file.
